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Wheel Upgrade Advice

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  • February 12, 2019 at 3:23 pm #29362
    gthornton101

    I’m ready to take the plunge and spend a little bit more money on replacing my wheels this Spring (clincher / rim brake).  I’ve had a couple of sets of Aksiums over recent years for road – commuting, group rides and occasional events/sportives, but am looking to upgrade to something better as I plan to up my cycling and events this year.

    I’ve mainly been looking still within Mavic which is probably either the Cosmic Elite UST or Ksyrium UST for my ~£400ish budget.  Are either of these worth the 200g-odd saving etc  up from Aksium, or do I really need to be spending more than £400 to get noticeable improvement/gains?

     

    In my research I’ve also come across this road.cc article to throw Pro Lite Revo, Hunt 4 Season, Vision Team 35, or Alexrims CXD4 into the mix (all for less than £400).  The Hunts in particular sound and look good, but I’m not that famiilar with any of these brands and so if anyone has any experience with them would be grateful to hear what you make of them.

     

    If anyone can vouch/veto anything I’ve mentioned based on experience that would be most appreciated!  Thanks.

     

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  • February 13, 2019 at 4:53 pm #935535
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    philhubbard

    I’d seriously recommend

    I’d seriously recommend looking at the Cero AR24 wheels from cycledivision, mine weigh 1520g and were around £250 with a set of Conti tyres.

     

    I’ve just done my first bearing change after 9000 UK miles, can’t recommend them enough

    February 13, 2019 at 4:42 pm #935533
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    kil0ran

    I’ve got Vision Team 35s as a

    I’ve got Vision Team 35s as a set of summer wheels. No complaints here and a fractional performance gain. Clicky-clacky freehub might not be to everyone’s taste but obvs it sounds pro…

    February 13, 2019 at 1:37 pm #935531
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    Anonymous

    I’ve had a range of Mavic

    I’ve had a range of Mavic wheels over the years – Aksium (the very original! dead due to broken hub/spoke flange), Cosmic Carbone (2006, still going, fairly light use), Ksyrium Elite (retired – rim worn out) and Cosmic Elite (current).

    The rears all use essentially the same freehub design which contains one end bearing and an Igus bush instead of a two-bearing design.

    The last two wheels have been troublesome, with the freehub ‘dragging’ when coasting, causing the chain to go very slack and either (a) slap around near whirring spokes when going downhill, cornering etc., or (b) creating a half-revolution of zero resistance fresh air pedalling when low-speed manoeuvring / pulling away. Needless to say both phenomena are very undesirable!

    The only solution (short of buying a new freehub) seems to be to crack them open, give the freehub internals and hub shaft a good clean then re-lube with a quality synthetic lube.

    I’ve got that down to around 30 minutes (not rushing) but it’s a bit of an annoying job – the Cosmic Elite started doing this after less than 6 months old, the Ksyrium after about a year and a half. They’d go for a few 100 k’s before starting to play up again.

    So sad to say but I’m probably not going to buy their wheels again. I think their quality has gone down and the prices aren’t competitive enough in such a wide open market.

    The Novatech hubs are used in loads of 3rd party wheelsets and are generally pretty reliable – it’s more or less the same design as a Campag freehub – had a few of both types and they’ve been great.

    I should add that the Mavic front wheels have been fine since the hubs are just a symmetrical twin-bearing design as per everyone elses!

     

    February 13, 2019 at 12:06 pm #935529
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    Stef Marazzi

    Hey, Behindthebikesheds –

    Hey, Behindthebikesheds – they have been looking for you on here – they thought youd dissappeared – have a look at the thread a bit further down.

    February 13, 2019 at 12:06 pm #935527
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    Stef Marazzi

    Hey, Behindthebikesheds –

    Hey, Behindthebikesheds – they have been looking for you on here – they thought youd dissappeared – have a look at the thread a bit further down.

    February 13, 2019 at 12:51 am #935525
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    Anonymous

    as an FYI, Pro Lite freehubs

    as an FYI, Pro Lite freehubs can be directly replaced with Novatec available widely from UK online retailers. I went with the antibite version for my bortola’s.

    February 12, 2019 at 8:15 pm #935523
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    Luv2ride

    I’ve got some Pro-life Revo’s

    I’ve got some Pro-life Revo’s.  Very happy with them, and tend to run them with wider tyres. They can be a real pain in the ‘arris to mount tyres onto though.  In fact some I just gave up on as too difficult. 35mm Vittoria Hyper Voyagers and 37mm Challenge Gravel Grinders fit no problem.  Others wereastruggleand needed a special “tyre wrench”to seat them.

    February 12, 2019 at 7:56 pm #935521
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    Sniffer

    I have done a 1000 miles on

    I have done a 1000 miles on the Hunt 4 Seasons since buying a new bike last year.  No problems with the wheels.  They look well made and run nicely with the GPS4000 28s that I am running.  Doubt you will be disappointed. 

    Edit – Just had a thought, mine are discs.

    February 12, 2019 at 5:46 pm #935519
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    Liam Cahill

    One of the best parts of

    One of the best parts of working for road.cc is that I get to test a lot of very fancy wheelsets.

    While I can’t give any first-hand experience of the wheels that you’ve listed but I can advise that the biggest performance upgrade that I’ve seen in wheels in the last 8(ish) years is the width of the rim. 

    A nice 19mm internal measurement will give a comfier ride for no speed loss and would be the feature that I’d prioritise over weight saved. They hold speed better and are way better in the corners

    The Hunt 4 Season looks like a good option for that.

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